BNE first Aussie airport to join pinning craze

25 June 2012

Attention plane spotters, jetrosexuals and aviation aficionados! Brisbane Airport has joined the world’s fastest growing social network, Pinterest.One of the fastest growing sites in history, Pinterest recorded 8.9 million ‘page views’ from Australia in February* alone.

“The site’s mission is to "connect everyone in the world through the 'things' they find interesting’,” Brisbane Airport Corporation’s Head of Corporate Relations, Rachel Crowley, said. “Airports are intrinsically interesting places where friends and family are cheered on to new adventures and where emotional reunions take place.

“We think people will enjoy a place to ‘pin’ their happy memories of past holidays and trips and share their latest plane spotting milestones. It’s a fun site that celebrates airports, aviation and our city, Brisbane.

Ms Crowley said Brisbane Airport’s other social networking, through Twitter and Facebook, was more focused on critical information sharing.

“More than 20 million passengers travelled through Brisbane Airport last year and social media plays a central role in how we communicate with this very diverse audience now and into the future,” Ms Crowley said.

“Twitter, in particular, is an extremely powerful tool for sharing important, time sensitive information with the media and public, as well as for immediate feedback from customers. And we’ve found Facebook invaluable for posting more detailed, but still important, information with people who work at, and use, the airport.

“But our Pinterest page is more likely to be a focal point for the many people who love airports and aviation,” she said. “And believe me, there are many of them!”

So important is digital and online media to Brisbane Airport that, in partnership with Queensland University of Technology (QUT), it has recently appointed a Chair of Innovation, Professor Alexander Dreiling, to assist BAC in developing a broad based digital strategy.

“While Professor Dreiling will primarily focus on the use of emerging technologies for improved airport operations, he will also be looking at how we can harness the breadth, intimacy and immediacy of online tools such as Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest to improve communication with our airport audience,” Ms Crowley said.

“Designing a digital strategy for a system as complex as an airport is an enormous challenge and is something we’re quite excited about as it will be a first for an Australian airport.”

Brisbane Airport’s Pinterest page currently shares information about everything from Brisbane and Brisbane Airport history to travel tips, famous faces at the airport, fashion, airlines, destinations and general aviation.

Brisbane Airport’s Pinterest ‘boards’ are currently followed by a number of organisations including ‘Australia (Tourism)’, ‘San Diego Airport’, ‘Atlantic City International Airport’ and ‘Brisbane Girls Grammar’ among others.

About Brisbane Airport

Brisbane Airport is the third largest airport in Australia on passenger numbers and operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It is Australia’s largest capital city airport (by land size) and has two major terminals providing services to 27 airlines flying to 45 national and 30 international destinations. In 2011 Brisbane Airport welcomed more than 20 million passengers through its facilities.